Realistic Credit Repair
In My Opinion -- The author misses the most obvious and best answer to this question. Tell FICO and the credit card companies to KISS IT. You don't need credit cards to live, regardless of the myth constantly perpetuated in our consumerist culture. If you do, you're living beyond your means. Perhaps she did need them to survive when her husband was
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Most banks now issue check cards which have VISA and MC logos but which are linked to your actual bank account. You don't need to be able to get a credit card in order to travel or shop online or anything else. I say this because I have done it, extensively. In fact, i shop online and travel plenty right now, and I never use a credit card. Obviously I cannot answer the same about being able to get a job at your company without a credit card, but you can get plenty of good jobs in good industries without anyone looking at your credit, but the pros and cons of various industries and jobs is a topic far beyond the scope of my post.
Anyway --That's my point -- credit cards can be a very useful tool but they are not *necessary*. That's a myth that 99.9% of peopel in our society have bought into, and it's false. Convenience is not the same as necessity. All the things you are talking about -- I have done them all without credit cards.I even did them without check cards. No, it was not as "convenient" as whipping out a credit card, being able to buy what I want or need without it impacting my cash flow, but it can be done.
As for your idea that it's soothing to think you can always get credit....to me, that links to my statement that this is a false paradigm in our society. It's not soothing to kow you can always sink yourself deeply into debt OR that the only way you could handle an emergency like th eones you are listing is by takingout loans from credit card companies. I personally find it more soothing to know that I have the resources and creativity to be able to deal with whatever comes up, and sadly, most people have allowed those creative muscles to atrophy bc they buy into this false paradigm.
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I just don't keep a massive reserve of cash to cover work travel expenses - and my finance department at work prefers credit card receipts to cash - they're traceable, somewhat insured, and far safer. I also know of no way to buy airline tickets without a credit card - if you buy at the last minute, at the airport, you pay far more for the same ticket purchsed in advance online - nor do we use travel agents anymore.
Credit cards are far more convenient, used properly, but are necessary in some situations - you can't get a hotel room without one, at least in my country. You can't rent a car without one.
But the issue of requring a good credit rating to get a job is entirely true - I'm a librarian. I handle huge budgets at work. I spend millions of dollars a year of my company's money on books and subscriptions and other materials. They want some assurance that I am responsible - I also spend thousands of dollars a year on training, travel, and professional development. I just saw an article in the NY Times or some other source about how it's now very common for employers to run a credit check before hiring you. At worst, a poor rating could cost you a job - at best, you'd have to explain your way out of an embarassing situation.
And I'm sorry, but I totally disagree with your assessment of my emergency needs statement - I am on my own in the world. I don't have family members who would take me in in the event of an emergency. It's simply peace of mind to know that if I had to, I could access money that I haven't earned yet. I am incredibly resourceful, well educated, independant - but I want that peace of mind. And in the long run, it's better for me, financially, to use a credit card or get a line of credit, than to cash out RRSPS (tax sheltered retirement funds) or pension contributions. My emergency savings are a fabulous cushion, but if I ever needed more cushion than they could provide, you bet I'd turn to credit. Especially if it meant spending a dry night indoors, or eating that day. If I was involved in a large scale disaster, I'd be okay - I'd have the means to travel, eat, get a hotel room, buy a new wardrobe, whatever I needed. It's not the only incentive to maintain good credit standing, but it is an incentive, for me. Creativity and resourcefulness are important, but not worth sleeping under a bridge. Not when I have options, anyway.
But as a professional, I do need at least one high-limit credit card to do my job - it sucks that it can't be a company card, that it has to be in my name, but that's business.
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BUT -- my sister is a librarian. She has an MLS and is actually a department head at a huge university library here in our large metro area. She just got this job in Jan about 2 weeks after she got her MLS and before that, while still in grad school, she was a department head at a public library in a suburb. And yes she oversees large budgets [though she has not travelled -- yet]. If they checked her credit they would never have hired her bc omg she has the worst credit EVER. Bankruptcies, defaults, sherriff knocked at her door to serve her with papers last spring for defaulting on yet another card bad credit. But she has not had any problem getting jobs as a dept head in libraries. Her husband has similar bad credit and he is also a librarian and also has had no problem getting jjobs, though he is a reference librarian, not a dept head.
Some of the differences in our experiences might stem from you living in Canada and things being different up there. Here I can and have rented hotel rooms and rented cars without credit cards. Also, a check card linked to my bank acocunt also gives me the same kinds of receipts and statements to as using a credit card would, except that I use my own money of course.
I understand that YOU find it more "soothing" to know you could charge any necessities, but after all, I did post this is debtproofliving, so I don't think it's unreasonable to think most readers here would agree with my own feelings on the importance of living without debt as much as possible.
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Canada is far more electronic than the US - so maybe things are less credit card dependant where you are. But I just got back from my honeymoon in the US, and the hotel demanded a credit card number to book the room - the airline demanded a credit card to reserve our flight - the rest of the trip we did in cash, and the credit card is already paid off. Useing credit wisely is not a bad thing - abusing it is a whole other story.
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